Looking for a Campaign World

fjw70

Adventurer
I am looking for a new campaign world. I am thinking of running A Song of Ice and Fire type campaign (either using the GR game or a mixture of that and D&D 4e) and I need a world to run it in. I want something that is unknown to most gamers and is a medieval setting that is low magic.

Any suggestions?
 

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Hârn.

Classic setting, been around a long while, very few gamers know about it though or know enough about it to ruin a campaign. It is medieval through and through, and very low magic.

It is still supported, that is, you can buy .pdfs of nearly everything they produced. I used Hârn material to get excellent maps of medieval towns and castles.
 



Banestorm might work. It's not D&D, but the Banestorm book has enough detail about the setting that you should be able to run it in just about any system with a few minor tweaks.
 

You could also try Legend from Dragon Warriors. I'm currently writing a homebrew to deal with this type of quasi-historic/song of fire and ice campaign and found it a useful source of yoink-spiration.
 


I second using Dragon Warrior's Legend as a campaign world. It's a really good, really medieval world, unlike Harn. I bought Harn just recently after years of reading good stuff about it and quite frankly I was extremely under-impressed with what I actually got. For such a 'supposedly' hardcore medieval world, you end up with plain-old D&D forced into a medieval world, meaning there are elves, orcs, goblins, etc., all over the place just like D&D, only they try to portray it as real-world medieval-ness as if nothing is wrong with that picture. There's no mystique, there's no mystery, there's no magic like in Legend, there's just elves and orcs and all the other blatantly Tolkien, D&D trappings.
I don't get it. I think if you're going for that medieval, "human-centric" feel and true-to-real-world-medieval-ness, then Legend is about a million times better than Harn. It's like comparing air (Harn) to crack (Dragon Warriors/Legend) if you were comparing the effects of a substance on a person, it just doesn't even compare in terms of the effect.
 

The Hyborian Age

If your players are not too familiar with Conan's world, try the Hyborian Age via CONAN THE ROLEPLAYING GAME.

Mongoose just stopped producing for the line, so you can find any books you want at a discount. The world is low magic, human centric, and, chances are, none of your players have ever seen any of the monsters they'll encounter in a Conan game.

I've started a campaign centered around Cimmerian Barbarians, like Conan, but this game can have a lot of different "feels" and "atmospheres" depending on where you set it.





Want a celtic barbarian vibe? Set your game in Cimmeria, the way I have (CIMMERIAN BLOOD.

Want a nordic, Viking vibe? Try out a game starting in Nordheim with the players as either the blond haird Aesir or the red haired Vanir.

Want a pirate, sea-going based game? Set your game in one of the many coastal towns, on the Great Western Ocean or even the Vilayet Sea.

Want a sandy, dark Egyptian vibe? Consider a game set around dark hearted Stygia.

Want an ancient Roman or Greek vibe? Pick any of the Hyborian nations, especially Corinthia or Argos.

Want a spanish flair with duels and nobles and knights in full plate? Pick Zingara as your starting point.

Want a edge-of-civilization vibe? Fight the Picts on the Aquilonian border.

Want a fantasy Asia/Oriental/China based vibe? Set your game in Khitai.

Want a Turkish or ancient Indian vibe? Look to Turan and Vendya.

Want a deep, dark, ancient African vibe? Try the Black Kingdoms.

Want a game set with the players as part of, or leading, a mercenary company? Set the game around a Free Company.

Want a land where sorcery is dark and unspeakable rites are performed? Try Hyperborea or Zamora.

Want a land of petty warlords, city-state kings, and wandering bands of mauraders? Try the Border Kingdom.

Want a land set in a land similar to England in the 1100's after Rome retreated? Look to Brythunia.



I could go on. The point is, the Hyborian Age is as different and regional as the real world. In fact, it is supposed to be the real world some 10,000 years ago after Atlantis sank beneath the waves.



I would suggest you get the [ame=http://www.amazon.com/Conan-Return-Road-Kings-Roleplaying/dp/1905850085/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1283823500&sr=1-2]RETURN TO THE ROAD OF KINGS[/ame] supplement and decide where you want to set/start your game, then buy supplements that compliment that choice.


Conan's world is rich in detail, dark in sorcery, gritty in combat, and addiciting to play in.:confused:
 

Yes, The Lands of Legend are indeed excellent. Plus, no-one will know them, unless they've played Dragon Warriors. And even then, there are so many different areas, you could get away with it just fine in that scenario. And unless your players are British (or maybe Australian, or New Zealanders. . .) it's unlikely anyway.

"Medieval", "low magic", and "unknown to most gamers" - yep. Not too many settings you could say that about, I suspect. Of any merit, at least.
 

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